Mets continue tailspin, fall to Marlins

Things just keep getting worse for the defending National League East champion New York Mets. After getting swept by the lowly Washington Nationals and then getting shut-out by the St. Louis Cardinals in a make-up game yesterday, the Mets dropped the first game of a three-game set to the Florida Marlins tonight, 7-4. They have now fallen behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East standings and are in second place in the division for the first time since May 15th. New York is on the verge of the biggest September collapse in MLB history. Never before has a team had a seven-game lead with 17 games left to play and lost it.

The Marlins busted out of the gates early as Jeremy Hermida blasted a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right field off Oliver Perez in the first inning. Perez then singled in a run in the bottom half of the frame to bring the Mets to within one run, but Florida added two runs in the third, both off hit-batsmen with the bases loaded. Perez loaded the bases with nobody out. Hermida then grounded out sharply to third baseman David Wright, who threw home to get the force out. Catcher Paul Lo Duca then threw back to Wright in an attempt to get the out at third, but Wright failed to remember to step on third base, leaving the bases juiced with one out. Perez then struck out Miguel Cabrera and emphatically pumped his fist into his glove, only to hit Cody Ross and Mike Jacobs in succession and give the Marlins a 4-1 advantage. He also hit Dan Uggla earlier in the inning.

Carlos Beltran made it a 4-3 game in the bottom of the third with a long two-run blast off of Byung-Hyun Kim. However, Florida answered right back in the top of the fourth. With two outs, the Marlins loaded the bases to set the stage for a two-run single by Cabrera, putting the Fish up 6-3. Matt Treanor then added to the lead with a solo homer in the top of the fifth. An RBI ground-out by Wright made it 7-4 in the bottom half of the inning, but neither team would score after that.

Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth to pick up his 32nd save for the Marlins, whose bullpen came up with another phenomenal collective effort after Kim left the game in the sixth with a blister on his throwing hand. Taylor Tankersley, Matt Lindstrom, Lee Gardner, and Gregg combined to throw four scoreless innings. Lindstrom pitched out of a first-and-third, one out jam in the seventh, striking out Beltran and Moises Alou to end the inning. Florida's bullpen has not allowed a run in the past four games.